PODCAST · news
News & Views
by NC Newsline
Conversations with prominent state and national newsmakers – politicians, advocates, analysts, academics and activists — about the news, events and public policy debates that shape life in North Carolina.
Episodes
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Lee Rainie, director of the Imagining the Digital Future Center, on AI and the future of work
President Donald Trump created a new task force last week focused on artificial intelligence, which he has renamed “super intelligence.” Tech leaders have called repeatedly called on Washington to create guardrails for the industry, with Anthropic warning its own investors that the rapidly...
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Amanda Rosa of Extreme Weather Survivors discusses Helene recovery and weather-related disasters
It’s been two years now since Hurricane-turned-Tropical Storm Helene devastated a large swath of the southeastern United States, including much of western North Carolina. But as anyone paying even a little attention is painfully aware, Helene was just one of a growing array of weather-driven...
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Matt Calabria, director of the Governor’s Recovery Office for Western North Carolina
It was two years ago this past week that Hurricane-turned-Tropical Storm Helene inundated and devastated large swaths of western North Carolina with unprecedented rainfall and flooding. All tolled the disaster took more than 100 lives, inflicted more than 60 billion dollars in damage and wrecked...
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UNC Health infectious disease expert David Wohl on the respiratory virus season
We’re now several years, thankfully, past the COVID-19 pandemic, but as even a casual glance at daily news headlines reminds us, the challenge posed by infectious diseases is not going anywhere anytime soon. And with the arrival of fall weather and the holiday gatherings that will soon be right...
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Emily Donovan of Clean Cape Fear discusses the enormous problems posed by PFAS pollution
One of the most important and worrisome threats to our natural environment and human health to emerge in recent decades is a group of chemicals commonly referred to as PFAS. Also known as “forever chemicals,” PFAS are especially pernicious because they’re toxic, cause all kinds of health…
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Elon University’s Jason Husser shares the most recent survey of public opinion ahead of the midterms
The fall midterm elections are just six weeks away and that means that North Carolinians will soon cast their ballots in an array of races that will both help determine the makeup of the next Congress and General Assembly, and whether future legislatures and governors will have two the most...
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NC Budget and Tax Center’s Alexandra Sirota on a trio of proposed constitutional amendments
The latest public opinion survey shows generally strong support amongst voters for a trio of proposed constitutional amendments that will appear on the North Carolina ballot this fall that address incomes taxes, property taxes and voter photo ID. However, Alexandra Sirota, the executive director…
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Amy Beros and Liz Reasoner discuss NC’s growing food insecurity during Hunger Awareness month
Thanks to soaring prices and big cuts to federal food assistance, hunger is quickly growing worse across North Carolina. The latest conservative estimate is that one out of seven North Carolinians is “food insecure” – a number that’s way up in just the last five years and now even higher than...
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Former Chapel Hill police chief Chris Blue on the NC Law Enforcement Trust & Legitimacy Project
One of the big problems confronting law enforcement departments in these politically charged times is the simple failure to communicate. And one of the main sources of this problem according to former Chapel Chief of Police Chris Blue is that law enforcement agencies often aren’t doing enough to...
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Senator Natalie Murdock discusses energy equity and voting rights
As the cost of living continues to soar across the country and worsen the growing divide between the wealthy and everyone else, a major contributor to this troubling trend is the cost of energy and public utilities. Indeed, as North Carolina State Senator Natalie Murdock of Durham and Chatham...
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Oxfam’s Patricia Stottlemyer ranks the best and worst states in the country to work
Each year around the Labor Day holiday, the international nonprofit, Oxfam, conducts and releases a study in which it ranks the best and worst states in the U.S. to work. The researchers preparing the report examine a long list of indicators – more than three dozen – that help them determine how...
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Common Cause of NC’s Brooks Fuller on efforts by election officials to erect new hurdles for voters
With Labor Day right around the corner, it means that the fall election season is upon us, and this year, there’s another development that’s heralding its arrival – controversy surrounding voting rules. Republican officials at both the state and local level have been acting in recent weeks to…
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Emily Mason of Environment NC on a new report that spotlights solar schools
Despite the efforts of the Trump administration and climate change deniers, solar energy continues to make enormous strides around the world and is quickly becoming our most efficient and affordable source of power generation. Simple economics are making it so. That said, there are still many...
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NC Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty executive director Noel Nickle
This month marks the 20th anniversary of the last time the state North Carolina put a person to death in punishment for a crime. And despite the many deep flaws in the death penalty – huge costs, systemic racism, convictions of innocent people — and fact that this moratorium has not led to any...
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Elon University Poll director Jason Husser discusses the 2026 NC Political Landscape report
If you pay any attention to politics and elections you know that the coming weeks will feature an avalanche of so-called horse race polls that test and report on the strength of various candidates as we head toward the fall midterm election. At such a time it becomes easy to think of North...
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Former NC Court of Appeals Judge Chris Brook on the increasingly politicized state judiciary
If there’s a branch of North Carolina state government that’s undergone the largest transformation in recent decades – both in its role and its make-up – it’s likely the state courts. Thanks in large part to an aggressive effort spearheaded by Republican legislators and funders, a combination of...
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Veteran pollster David McLennan discusses attitudes toward online gambling
As anyone who’s watched a college or professional sporting event in recent years is well-aware, the rapid spread of online gambling has brought transformative – and many would say deeply troubling – change to what has long been one of the most important social institutions in our country. In just…
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Wake Ed Partnership President Keith Poston on their efforts to equip public school classrooms
All across North Carolina, students, parents and teachers are preparing for the start of a new school year and, unfortunately, one of the most vexing challenges that’s accompanied this time of year for the last several is the struggle many public school teachers face in properly equipping their...
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Inside Climate News reporter Lisa Sorg discusses PFAS litigation and other top environmental stories
One of the most worrisome challenges to human health to emerge in recent decades has been the growing environmental omnipresence of a class of chemicals known as PFAS. Often referred to as “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down naturally and can remain in soil and water indefinitely,...
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WCU political scientist Chris Cooper on the ongoing battles over election laws and voting rights
With the 2026 midterm elections less than 100 days away, it a great time to check in with one of the state’s foremost experts on politics and elections, Western Carolina University Professor of Political Science, Chris Cooper. This past week, Newsline got a chance to catch up with Cooper for an...
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Sara Walker and Melissa Evers of Wake County Meals on Wheels discuss food insecurity among seniors
One in four Americans is 60+ and one in two lacks the income to pay for basic needs. That’s where “Meals on Wheels” makes a difference serving 13 million seniors nationwide. Recently, NC Newsline sat down with two staff members from the Wake County operation: Director of Development and...
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Rep. Marcia Morey discusses budget shortcomings, election law changes and ‘teen takeovers’
State Rep. Marcia Morey of Durham County is one of the many experts who’ve expressed concerns about how the state budget debate played out. While she’s happy about raises that some teachers will get, she’s concerned about those teachers and state employees who will receive a relative pittance.…
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Public Ed Works executive editor David Rice on education funding in NC’s new state budget
After more than a full year of delay at the legislature, North Carolina finally has a new state budget and as is almost always the case, what the new budget does and doesn’t do for public education is among the matters receiving the most attention. The good news is that a lot of teachers […]
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Ardis Watkins, executive director of the SEANC, discusses shortcomings in the state budget
Despite listing many concerns, Gov. Josh Stein signed the $34 billion state budget bill into law on July 7. One high-profile area that state employees and teachers felt didn’t go far enough was in compensation for those who keep North Carolina’s public structures and services up and running.…
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Newsline state government reporter Brandon Kingdollar on the policy changes packed into the budget
North Carolina’s new state budget runs more than 600 pages and includes dozens of other law changes unrelated to spending – many of which are only slowly coming to light and public awareness. NC Newsline state government reporter Brandon Kingdollar followed the twists and turns of the budget…
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Catawba College Dr. Michael Bitzer on shifting political attitudes and America’s 250th anniversary
There’s a longstanding pattern in American politics that in most off-year elections, the party of the president tends to lose support and right now, that’s looking more and more like what we’ll see this fall in North Carolina. According to new polling from the Catawba College YouGov Survey…
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NC Black Alliance executive director Marcus Bass on recent partisan election changes
Republican leaders at the North Carolina General Assembly have pursued few objectives with more zeal than their crusade to overhaul state elections. Repeatedly, GOP leaders have advanced new laws that make voting more difficult and the oversight of elections more partisan. A new omnibus bill that...
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WRAL-TV Documentary Producer Cristin Severance on news deserts and the future of local journalism
News deserts. At first blush, it seems like strange term in an era in which most people are regularly inundated on their devices with boatloads of emails and other messages about developments in the world around them. Unfortunately, as even a cursory look at the news landscape across the United...
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Rep. Deb Butler on budget negotiations, voting rights, and a possible repeal of NC’s seawall ban
After more than a year of waiting, it appears the North Carolina General Assembly will vote later this week on a comprehensive budget for the new fiscal year that begins July 1. Newline recently sat down for an extended conversation with New Hanover County State Representative Deb Butler to…
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Senator Lisa Grafstein discusses the state budget debate and an effort to curb voting rights
With a new state government fiscal year set to commence on July first, North Carolina state legislators have still yet to pass a budget for the year that’s coming to an end on June 30th. We’re the only state in the union in which this is the case. While the state has continued to […]
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EDF policy director Will Scott discusses Duke Energy’s Carbon Plan and NC’s future energy needs
When a utility company like Duke Energy plans for the future, it tries to predict how much electricity its customers will need a decade from now. Unfortunately, and not surprisingly, much of that process amounts to a guessing game in which utility company profits often play a much bigger role…
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Author Dr. Katharine Wilkinson discusses efforts to combat the global climate emergency
As the effects of climate change continue to grow and spread at an alarming rate, it can be easy to become overwhelmed. But as author Dr. Katharine Wilkinson documents and explains in her new book, “Climate Wayfinding: Healing Ourselves and the Planet We Call Home,” the keys to tackling and...
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Dr. Hope Thompson of the Natural Resources Defense Council on rising homeowner’s insurance
One of the most expensive and worrisome immediate impacts of climate change and the weather disasters it spawns is the fast-rising cost of homeowners insurance. Here in North Carolina and in many parts of the country, these soaring costs are a big contributor to the housing affordability crisis...
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States Newsroom’s Jonathan Shorman on voting rights, Trump and the GOP’s efforts to cling to power
Since Donald Trump’s return to the White House, hardly a day goes by in which there is not some brazen, precedent shattering action by the president or his allies. Indeed, the orders, directives, proposals and court rulings are coming at such a rapid pace that it’s easy to become numb to them and...
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Amy Beros discusses the persistent hunger crisis that plagues central and eastern North Carolina
Genuine food insecurity in which people don’t know where their next meal is coming from is a subject that merits a lot of attention. By any fair assessment the fact that literally millions of North Carolinians – a large percentage of them children – go to bed hungry in the world’s richest nation...
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Brooks Fuller of Common Cause North Carolina on proposals to make voting in our state harder
Ever since Republicans captured control of the state legislature at the outset of the last decade, North Carolinians have been witness to a steady stream of proposals designed to make voting harder and more complicated and make the day-to-day oversight and regulation of elections more partisan.…
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NC Newsline reporter Brandon Kingdollar discusses an array of bills being advanced by GOP lawmakers
North Carolina state lawmakers are in the midst of the 2026 legislative session and, as had been expected, several important proposals are advancing that could impact everything from alcohol sales to the state constitution. On the alcohol front, it appears that the recent ongoing trend to move…
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NC Budget and Tax Center director Alexandra Sirota on the problematic new constitutional amendments
Republican state legislative leaders made headlines in recent days by announcing that they have finally reached agreement on a new state budget. But even as that long overdue news was being made, the lawmakers also moved to advance a series of state constitutional amendments that would, if…
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Duke University’s Jackson Ewing on a massive merger between NC’s two largest electricity providers
Earlier this month, regulatory commissions in North and South Carolina approved a merger between the two energy monopolies that dominate electricity production and distribution in our state: Duke Energy Carolinas and Duke Energy Progress. The merger comes at a time of rapid consolidation in the...
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Rep. Phil Rubin on education funding and why a new property tax scheme could make problems worse
It appears that, finally, after a year-long delay that has left North Carolina the only state in the union without a budget for the current fiscal year, Republican state legislative leaders may soon give final approval to a comprehensive budget plan and send it to Gov. Josh Stein. Of course, as…
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NewDEAL CEO Debbie Cox Bultan on making government deliver better results
When it comes to politics and policymaking, the present era is among the most divided and rancorous in modern American history. At the national level, the U.S. seems as if it’s more divided than ever on a host of basic issues. But is this really the case? CEO of the national nonprofit, the…
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Southern Coalition for Social Justice’s Chris Shenton on the gutting of the Voting Rights Act
One of the greatest achievements of the American Civil Rights movement was the enactment more than 60 years ago of a law known as the Voting Rights Act. Though it had several provisions, the basic objective of the law was simple – it was to eliminate centuries of deep-seated racial discrimination...
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The message NC public school educators desperately want budget writers to hear
Last week was national Teacher Appreciation Week, a time to celebrate educators who show up for their students every day. Unfortunately, for many of the teachers in North Carolina, underappreciated – especially from state lawmakers – is the main thing they’re experiencing these days. On May 1st,...
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Charlotte-Mecklenburg educator Justin Parmenter on public education funding and the May Day rally
Thousands of North Carolina public school teachers and their supporters converged on Raleigh this past Friday to demand that state lawmakers end their chronic lack of support for public schools. That the participants in the “Kids over Corporations” rally had a strong case to make is hard to deny....
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State Rep. Renee Price on efforts to improve Black maternal health
One especially vexing public health issue that continues to plague North Carolina is the persistent crisis in the wellbeing of Black mothers and other moms of color. Time and again, statistics show that women of color face scandalous mortality rates that are far out of proportion with the general...
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Wake Ed Partnership’s Keith Poston on why education must be a priority this legislative session
With the North Carolina General Assembly back in Raleigh for the 2026 session, the state of our public schools is once again at the top of the public policy agenda. Unfortunately, despite the talk we often hear from legislative leaders, the hard truth is that our schools are and have been...
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How well states are doing in funding and supporting high quality pre-school
State support for preschool education hit record highs for enrollment, quality, and funding in the 2024-2025 school year, according to a new report entitled “The State of Preschool 2025” from the National Institute for Early Education Research. That said, some states advanced more than others.…
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Stateline reporter Robbie Sequeira on the rise in state lottery ticket sales
It’s been 20 years now since North Carolina started its state lottery and with only a very few exceptions, state lotteries are now an almost universal phenomenon. Interestingly, however, the rise of lotteries has coincided with the massive growth of legalized private gambling, and this has posed...
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NC Budget and Tax Center’s Sally Hodges Copple on the legislature’s worrisome tax triggers
As state lawmakers return to Raleigh this week for their 2026 legislative short session, there’s one issue that looms as the most important and most challenging: the state budget. Thanks to a long series of personal and corporate income tax cuts (and more that are scheduled to take place), the...
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Public School Forum’s Lauren Fox on the top education needs facing North Carolina
The state of North Carolina finds itself in a fiscal policy mess thanks to a series of regressive income tax cuts, there’s no larger or more important public function that will be adversely impacted than public education. For many years now, thanks to the decisions of Republican legislative...
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does News & Views have?
News & Views currently has 100 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is News & Views about?
Conversations with prominent state and national newsmakers – politicians, advocates, analysts, academics and activists — about the news, events and public policy debates that shape life in North Carolina.
How often does News & Views release new episodes?
News & Views has 100 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
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You can listen to News & Views on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts News & Views?
News & Views is created and hosted by NC Newsline.
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